Tuesday, February 24, 2015

As the Associated Press reported, Barbieri tried to compare telemedicine abortion procedures to colonoscopies during a meeting of the House State Affairs Committee. But his comeuppance was more thorough than wire reports suggested.
“You mention the risk of colonoscopy,” Barbieri told physician Julie Madsen. “Can that be done by drugs?”
“It can not be done by drugs,” Madsen replied. “It can, however, be done remotely, where you swallow a pill, and this pill has a little camera and it makes its way through your intestines, and those images are uploaded to a doctor who’s often thousands of miles away who then interprets that.”“Can this same procedure be done in a pregnancy — swallowing a camera and helping the doctor determine what the situation is with the child?” Barbieri asked.
“It cannot be done in pregnancy simply because, when you swallow a pill, it would not end up in the vagina,” she answered prompting loud laughter from within the chamber.
“Fascinating,” Barbieri said. “That certainly makes sense, doctor.”

YIKES! One might ask how could someone this ignorant be holding elected office, but I doubt thats a question you would ask if you have been paying attention to some of the elected Republicans in WI.
Barbieri has become a national laughingstock, and a quick look at his resume you see where he was given such brilliant information(emphasis mine):

Retired attorney, practicing in California for 20 years. Incumbent state representative. Barbieri owns a catering business and the “Vap-It” electronic cigarette store in Post Falls. In his two terms in the House, he’s been an outspoken tea party supporter and opponent of Medicaid expansion and civil rights protections for gays. Barbieri is board chairman of the Open Arms crisis pregnancy center and clinic in Coeur d’Alene. A home-schooling advocate, he’s called on Christians to pull their children out of Idaho’s “Godless” public schools.

Are we ever going to hold our elected officials to a higher standard? At this point, I would settle for a basic competency test. If you think continually handing these guys the wheel of our nation will not have serious long term effects, you are sadly mistaken.

1 comment:

Aaarrrrgh. I guess homeschooling is an easy target, but you do know, don't you, that not all homeschoolers are conservative tea partiers? I won't go into the multitude of reasons people may decide to homeschool, but believe me there are Democratic, liberal, progressive, and left-wing homeschoolers you offend with this type of smear. I know many homeschoolers who took part in the protests against ACT 10 at the Capitol. I've known union-supporting public school teachers who homeschooled their own children.

Support for homeschooling doesn't equate with tea party politics, and stupid doesn't equate with homeschooled. (I bet Barbieri wasn't homeschooled -- and that didn't prevent him making those idiotic statements.)